Early Look

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

U.S. futures are looking higher as the rally that started from early Tuesday morning continued into Wednesday morning, getting a boost by technology and semis after ASML reported better Q3 bookings. Stocks got a big boost off lows Tuesday to finish mixed following dovish commentary from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell while shrugging off the latest flare-up in trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Fed Chair Powell said downside risks to the US jobs market have risen and rising risks to the job market justified a September interest rate cut. Despite the massive rally off Tuesday lows, stocks and bond yields still finished mostly lower after President Donald Trump said in a late day comment he had weighed retribution for China not buying US soybeans — potentially escalating the trade war with the nation. That concern did not carry over to the night as better earnings from ASML in the semi sector and more momentum related buying lifted futures. In Asian markets, The Nikkei Index surged 825 points to 47,672, the Shanghai Index gained 46 points to 3,912, and the Hang Seng Index jumped 469 points to 25,910. In Europe, the German DAX is up 47 points to 24,283, while the FTSE 100 is down -51 points to 9,404. Attention turns back to bank earnings this morning with results expected from BAC, MS, PNC and others, while earnings from United Airlines and JB Hunt are also among those due later in the day. Gold futures continue to make new all-time highs on a daily basis, rising another 1.3% to $4,217 an ounce as the dollar fell against peers on growing Fed cut bets.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 202.88 points, or 0.44%, to 46,270.46
• The Nasdaq Composite dropped -172.91 points, or 0.76%, to 22,521.70
• The Russell 2000 Index advanced 34.08 points, or 1.38% to 2,495.49

• 8:30 AM ET                  Empire Manufacturing for October…est. (-1.4)
• 10:30 AM ET                Weekly DOE Inventory Data
• 11:00 AM ET                Cleveland Fed CPI for September…prior +0.3%

• Earnings After the Close: BANR EPAC FR GSBC HOMB JBHT MMLP PNFP REXR SLG SNV TFIN UAL WAFD

• Deutsche Bank 33rd Annual Leveraged Finance Conference, 10/13-10/15, in Austin, Texas
• Needham 5th Annual Needham Private Biotech and MedTech Company Virtual 1×1 Forum, 10/14-10/15 (virtual)
• Oracle AI World 2025 user conference, 10/13-10/16
• Robinhood Investors Conference 2025, 10/15 in New York City

• Nike (NKE) was initiated with a Buy at BTIG, named ‘Top Pick’ for 2026 with $100 price target as believes the company is making solid and it is establishing FY26 and FY27 EPS estimates of $1.70 and $2.75, respectively and thinks the company can return to greater than 12% long-term operating margins.
• Papa John’s (PZZA) shares rise overnight after reports Apollo Global (APO) submitted a fresh bid within the last week to take pizza chain private at $64 per share, according to people familiar with the matter. The situation is fluid and no deal is guaranteed, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the situation is private. Street Insider first reported the offer on Monday. https://tinyurl.com/3c486r8n
• Stellantis (STLA) plans to invest $13B in U.S. auto manufacturing operations over the next four years. The automaker said the investments will add more than 5,000 jobs to its domestic workforce and involve new products at plants in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio through 2029 – CNBC.
• American Public Education (APEI) shares slipped overnight after saying it is unable to determine full impact that U.S. government shutdown will have on its Q4 and FY 2025 operating results.

• Hillenbrand (HI) shares rise after Bloomberg reports Lone Star Funds is in advanced talks to acquire plastic parts and equipment maker Hillenbrand Inc., people familiar with the matter said. https://tinyurl.com/mufbym35
• Nuclear power names (OKLO, NNE, FRMI, NKLR, etc.) mentioned cautiously in the WSJ saying forget about the froth in tech valuations, the real excess might be building up in energy stocks. A group of non-revenue-generating energy companies have collectively ballooned in value to more than $45 billion in hopes that tech companies will one day pay for their yet-to-be-built power. https://tinyurl.com/42fxsjjn
• Sunrun (RUN) was upgraded to Market Perform from Underperform at BMO Capital and raised tgt to $19 from $10 saying they see the solar company now in a better cash position to be able to boost shareholder returns via share buybacks or dividend in 2026.
• TotalEnergies SE (TTE) said its Q3 profit and cash flow may rise slightly after oil and gas output increased and refining margins jumped from a year earlier, outweighing a drop in crude prices.

• Citizens Financial (CFG) reports Q3 adj EPS $0.89 vs. consensus $1.03; Q3 revs $2.11B vs. est. $2.1B; Q3 Credit Loss Provision $172M and Q4 NII up 2.5-3% from Q3; said is well-positioned for the medium-term.
• Hancock Whitney Corp. (HWC) Q3 EPS $1.49 vs. consensus $1.43; Q3 credit loss allowance $-341.5Ml; Q3 CET capital ratio 14.08%; Q3 Net Income $127.5M and Q3 net interest income $282.3M; ROA was 1.46%, our efficiency ratio improved to 54.10%, and our NIM was stable at 3.49% despite a falling rate environment.
• PNC Financial (PNC) Q3 EPS $4.35 vs. consensus $4.04; Q3 revenue $5.92B vs. est. $5.81B; 3 tangible book value per share $107.84; Q3 CET1 capital ratio 10.6% and Q3 net charge-offs 0.22%.

• Keros Therapeutics (KROS) said it plans to commence tender offer to repurchase up to $194m of additional shares at $17.75/share in cash.
• Pfizer (PFE) Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on Tuesday that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry needs to collaborate with China’s, where speedy processes have vaulted it to 30% of global drug development over the past decade – Reuters.

• Apple (AAPL) is lobbying India’s government to modify its income tax law to ensure the company is not taxed for ownership of high-end iPhone machinery it provides to its contract manufacturers, an issue seen as a hurdle to its future expansion, sources say – Reuters reported.
• Intel (INTC) announced a new artificial intelligence chip for the data center that it plans to launch next year, in a renewed push to break into the AI chip market. The new chip (GPU) will be optimized for energy efficiency and support a wide range of uses such as running AI applications.
• Logitech (LOGI) was upgraded to Buy from Neutral at Citigroup with $130 tgt saying peripheral demand should benefit given positive PC datapoints with checks suggesting constructive Videoconferencing equipment demand amidst return to office, and strong gaming peripherals demand.
• OpenAI makes five-year business plan to meet $1tn spending pledges – Financial Times https://tinyurl.com/44u9mh2t